The Gifted. Part 2: Chapter 1

Madison looked at herself in the mirror, obviously nervous about her job interview. Her shoulder length blond hair was pulled back with a green ribbon which complimented her eyes of the same color. She sighed and turned away from her reflection, picking up her papers and walking out the door of her apartment.
She sighed with frustration once more a few moments later when her car wouldn’t start. Madison slammed the car door and stormed back inside to get a heavier coat. As she walked down the sidewalk in the biting winter air Madison sighed again and silently wished she was still living in Ohio with her parents. Life was so much simpler then.
Madison passed a dark alley and felt a presence behind her. She didn’t look back, just walked faster. Whoever was behind her was gaining ground, but she knew that running wouldn’t help. Of course, she didn’t know for sure that the person was following her, and even if this person was following her, she didn’t know for sure that he meant her harm.
As she turned the corner Madison saw her follower’s reflection in the glass window of a store across the street. Now she began to panic, it was a middle aged man wearing ragged clothes and with murder in his eyes. She started to run, but her high heels slowed her down. He caught up to her fast and she screamed as he lunged with a knife in hand. She ducked out of the way and screamed again, but either no one heard or no one cared.
The knife caught her shoulder and she gripped her arm to stop the bleeding. The man came at her again, but now she was backed up against a building and there was no place to go. Madison closed her eyes, resigned to her fate, and once more imagined herself at home. She waited a few moments, but didn’t feel the knife or hear the usual night sounds of the city.
Opening her eyes, Madison gasped in shock. She was in her old room, and she could hear her little sister snoring in her bed. But her sister was bigger than this little girl. Maybe this was all just a dream, and she would wake up in a moment.
“Ouch!” Madison exclaimed. Okay, pinching obviously wasn’t going to work.
“Who’s there?” Madison heard a small voice whisper. Oh great, Madison thought, I guess I’ve woken the kid. She turned to quietly leave the room, but the girl was already turning on the light. Again, Madison gasped. What was going on? The little girl looked exactly like Madison had as a child.
Madison closed her eyes, and wished herself back in her apartment. When she opened her eyes, the dark room greeted her. She looked around to make sure everything was normal. The fridge still made an annoying hum which hurt her head; the floor was still covered with clothes, books, newspapers, and pencil shavings. Even her replica sword was in its usual place on the wall.
She sighed, it was all a dream. Madison was very relieved, and very tired. One would think that sleep would refresh a person, but obviously her dream had not been very restful. She glanced at the clock. Eleven o’clock in the morning. She must have slept in.
Madison suddenly panicked, Eleven o’clock in the morning! She had missed her interview. Why had her alarm not woken her? She ran into her room, her alarm had been turned off. Maybe she had woken and turned it off, then fallen back asleep.
Whatever had happened, she had missed her interview, which would guarantee another month of scraping together enough money to pay the rent for her apartment and for groceries. She went to get dressed, only to realize she already had. Madison frowned, it was strange enough for her to have been sleep walking, but to have gotten dressed in her sleep was too strange. Maybe it hadn’t been a dream after all.
She shook her head. No, that was ridiculous. There was no possibility that she had been jumping around from place to place, much less from time to time, with the blink of an eye. This day was starting out very strange. Maybe she would take advantage of the free day to go and visit her family. Yes, that was what she would do.